


The Fallen

by xSaffire55x



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: AH Royal Big Bang 2018, But not my intention really, Gen, Jeremwood if you squint hard, Kings AU, centered around Ryan mostly with a little of Jeremy, mentions of torture but nothing explicit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-08-02 18:54:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16310798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xSaffire55x/pseuds/xSaffire55x
Summary: He was the Mad King. The Dark God. He was feared by all and loved by none. He knew how to conquer and control. It was simple fact. Who knew he had a heart though?





	The Fallen

“Father!”  
The word echoed through the forest as the enemies fled, having now done their task of taking down the King. But he paid them no mind. His full attention was on his father in that moment.  
That single moment that would forever haunt his nightmares. With the arrow protruding from the stomach, the man now laying on his back after being shot. Blood pooling down into the snow underneath him as he took shuddering breaths. This moment felt like a lifetime in the time it took to get from his position to his father.  
He reached down and packed some snow together. He immediately put the snow around the arrow hoping to stop the bleeding. The blood soaked through the snow almost immediately.  
Because of the blood’s warmth, the snow also started to melt but that didn’t stop the boy from grabbing more and more snow and trying his hardest to just stop the bleeding.  
Around him, the guards and warriors gave chase to the enemies who had injured their King. Few remained to guard the heir, his uncle being one of them.  
“Don’t do this father, please don’t do this.” He begged as tears started to fall. The tears stung his cheeks from the cold but he couldn’t find an ounce of care about the cold.  
“Don’t leave me, not now” He continued to beg as the tears fell faster, and he finally ran out of nearby snow that would have hopefully freeze the wound some.  
“Son…you will…make a wonder…ful King…” His father whispered.  
He leaned his forehead down onto his father’s chest and felt his father weakly stretch his neck to kiss the top of his head. “I believe…in you.”  
He continued to sob even as his father took his last breath. What felt like eternity but in reality was only a few seconds, the men appeared shouting about reinforcements coming. But he couldn’t care, not now, not when he just lost the last person who loved him unconditionally.  
Finally, he was picked up and dragged away from the cooling corpse.  
“No! Let me go! Father! Please!”  
He was hysterical in his grief and could barely understand as his father’s best friend, his uncle, hugged him to his own chest telling him how they had to leave.  
He could no longer see anything through his tears and his voice was going hoarse from yelling.

The nightmares of that event persisted for more than a year. It was always different and yet so similar; always ending the same way. But sometimes it was him directly killing his father accidentally, and sometimes indirectly. The worst was when it wasn’t an accident and he could only watch in horror, with no control over his body whatsoever.  
But at least he had his uncle to comfort him and willing would lay in bed with him.  
Sometimes they would stay up just talking about random things or even just teaching the new King his duties, just to chase away the nightmares and sleep. Because, even then, the nightmares persisted even beyond sleep.  
His uncle, while the man loved him, couldn’t love him like his father did. He couldn’t love him unconditionally because in his uncle’s mind, it was his fault that his brother had died.  
That was the day that something inside of him broke.

“Sir, you have to go”  
He pouted before remembering where he was and instantly made a blank face. It wouldn’t do to show his emotions; especially not when so many were questioning his authority.  
“Why?” He asked.  
“Because it’s your duty as King to go.”  
He pursed his lips in thought.  
“Alright.”

He watched in horror as the sword went through his uncle’s chest. It was an instant death for his uncle.  
He couldn’t contain his rage and charged at the attacker with his own sword drawn. The attacker didn’t stand a chance in his shock. It took 3 hacks to completely cleave off the attacker’s head but it was worth it.  
This incident lead to him being called bloodthirsty.

The nightmares came back tenfold and this time there was no one there to help him. He knew he shouldn’t have gone to the meeting between the two kingdoms, it was too suspicious. But there were so many people who were questioning his rule and this alliance would serve to strengthen his rule over his people.  
His servants tried to the best of their abilities to help the King in his heartbreak. but he ended up pushing them away and refusing to sleep. As time went on, as he lost more and more sleep, he became more cruel in rejecting help. He started sending maids off crying and butlers stormed off. None of them understood how much this was tormenting the King, all they understood was he was being cruel.  
This lead them to call him heartless.

He looked dispassionately down at the men in front of him. He had grown into a fine young man at the age of 19.  
“You are charged with robbery and adultery. Your sentence? Death by hanging”  
The men started to plead to the King for their very lives pointing out how they were the only income of their families and how they had kids of their own.  
The crowd was outraged that the King wasn’t throwing them into prison but instead killing them.  
He continued to watch silently as each man was hanged.  
The crowd failed to realize that this was the 5th attempt in the last 2 months that these men had attempted robbery. And the wives of the men were so disgusted with the adultery that they had agreed with the King on his sentence. But no one paid the wives any mind.  
This earned him the name of monster.

“Did you hear what King Haywood did, Geoff?”  
“No, what did he do now?”  
“He declared war on a troop of nomads.”  
“What the hell. What have they ever done to him?”  
“Who knows but we expect to see him wipe them out any day now.”  
This earned him the name ruthless.

“He declared a tax on all imports.”  
“Nice to see you too Jack.”  
They called him mad.

All these names they called him. It took a toll on the King, but none saw this. They only saw what they wanted to see; a ruthless, bloodthirsty King with no heart. The kings of the surrounding land refused to do business with the King regardless that he held the largest kingdom with the most resources.  
Everytime the King gained a new nickname or was refused to visit another kingdom, something inside him broke even further.

“Are you hungry?”  
The question startled Jeremy. He had climbed the tree to pick some apples from the royal garden, as they were the only apple trees around. He almost fell down if it weren’t for the hand that pushed him upright.  
“I’m sorry I startled you”  
Jeremy turned around and looked at the man behind him. The first thing that popped in Jeremy’s head was that those were the clearest blue eyes he had ever seen. The man himself wasn’t bad looking either. But what made Jeremy nervous was the sword at the man’s belt.  
“I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to know if you’re hungry.” The man smiled disarmingly and continued, “Well of course you are or you wouldn’t risk your very life for an apple”  
Jeremy blushed and rubbed the back of his head. “I’m sorry….I haven’t eaten in a couple of days and they looked just so good..”  
The man nodded and gestured with his head further on into the garden. “Come with me and we’ll see if there is anything else you can take with you.”  
Jeremy’s eyes widened in shock before he grew even more anxious asking, “Won’t King Haywood be mad?”  
The man chuckled before reassuring Jeremy “It won’t hurt what he doesn’t know.”  
“But-“  
“Don’t worry about it, it’ll all work out I’m positive.”  
Jeremy weighed his options before his stomach made itself known. The man smiled, his eyes dancing with mirth. “Come”  
Jeremy climbed down the tree and followed the man.

It has been several years since that incident. The man turned out to be Ryan and both of them became very close. Jeremy knew that Ryan was a high ranking officer as most of the servants paid them no mind.  
Because of their friendship Jeremy became a constant in the castle and eventually became one of King Haywood’s personal knights, though Jeremy had never seen the man.  
Around the village, Jeremy kept hearing stories of how cruel King Haywood was and yet he never once met or spoke to the man.  
King Haywood hardly left his castle and usually sent out Ryan to meet with the other kings across the land as the other kings refused to actually speak to King Haywood himself. As protection Jeremy went with Ryan.  
Besides Ryan, King Jones (Michael) and King Free (Gavin) were Jeremy’s closest friends.  
Ryan’s best friends, besides Jeremy of course, were King Ramsey (Geoff) and King Pattillo (Jack).  
All 6 of them got together sometimes and talked and everyone got along with each other. Though most of the time there was ranting about King Haywood. Ryan remained oddly quiet about the subject though.

As time went on, Jeremy couldn’t help but notice how empty Ryan’s laugh seemed to be, and the few times they made eye contact for longer than a second, he was startled to see just how broken Ryan’s eyes were.  
Jeremy assumed that King Haywood was destroying Ryan from the inside out. And how scary was it that he was right in some aspects.

“We’re thinking of declaring war on King Haywood and taking over his kingdom.” Michael finally spoke up one day.  
Ryan looked up startled from his glass of water and looked at Michael. “What?”  
“We are thinking of taking away King Haywood’s kingdom so he can do no further damage” Geoff answered this time. “We would love if you and Jeremy were to join us though in our crusade.  
Ryan remained quiet as Jeremy hesitantly agreed.  
“Don’t worry Ryan, if you help us you won’t be punished.”  
Ryan shook his head and left the table in silence.

The day had come. The day that the other Kings banded together and attacked King Haywood’s castle.  
They easily killed the people opposing them with their 5 kingdom’s worth of armies along with Jeremy leading the way through the castle. The Kings were surprised about how many people stood up against them. Some even going as far as running up to the castle to warn King Haywood.  
They finally broke into the castle, still killing the opposition. But letting the others that didn’t fight live. Finally they got to the throne room where King Haywood sat with his full suit of armor on, along with a demon mask fully covering his face.  
King Haywood didn’t speak a word and it struck Jeremy as odd that the man didn't say anything to defend himself or even order his guards to attack. In fact, King Haywood did the very opposite, he raised his hand forcing his personal guards to lower their weapons.  
“Your reign of tyranny is over King Haywood” Michael yelled before charging at the man with a roar.  
Jeremy stood back as all 5 Kings went up to attack King Haywood. It was easy to tell that King Haywood was slightly overwhelmed as the 5 Kings moved as a team. But it took one slip up from Gavin that allowed for King Haywood to gain the upper hand.  
Swiftly, King Haywood knocked out Gavin, leading Michael to go into a rage, thinking that Gavin had been killed and thus became sloppy.  
After Michael went down, Geoff was next with Jack following shortly after.  
In the end it was Jeremy facing the injured King. King Haywood had his sword drawn but down, the tip hitting the ground. He was breathing heavily and bleeding profusely.  
Jeremy hesitated. This was his King. The King that gave him a job and was really the catalyst for finding Ryan. Then Jeremy remembered the broken look in Ryan’s eye; Ryan’s hollow laugh. Jeremy charged.

King Haywood woke in segments. First he became aware that he was sitting down, then he became aware that he was tied up. Once he made that second revelation, consciousness slammed back into him.  
He opened his eyes and lifted his head from where it was laying against his chest. He opened his eyes, relieved that his mask was still in place.  
It was silent for a long time. Minutes, hours, days; it was hard for King Haywood to be able to discern what time it was as there was no windows.  
Though, as he had nothing else to do, looking around led him to realize he was in his own cell under the castle he called home.  
Finally, the door opened to reveal the 5 Kings. All were bandaged and healing while it seems they had left his own wounds unattended. Which wasn’t very surprising at all.  
For a while no one spoke until Jack spoke, “Where is Ryan?”  
“Who?”  
Apparently that was the wrong thing to say. King Haywood’s voice was deep, dark, and almost sinister. Michael burst forward and punching him straight in the face but cursed when the demon mask provided unknown protection to King Haywood’s face.  
The Kings surrounded him. He tried to keep his eye on all of them at the same time, but it was hard with Geoff being directly behind him.  
King Haywood internally panicked when they untied his mask but was reminded that he was wearing thick face paint. “A fucking demon mask to go with your skull face. How fitting you bastard.”  
“I can assure you my mother and father were happily mar-”  
He was cut off by a slap that came from Jack himself.  
Jack grabbed King Haywood’s chin roughly and forced him to look him in the eyes.  
The first thing that popped in Jack’s head was that Ryan might have been a bastard child with how similar the eye color was. But while Ryan’s eyes were soft, King Haywood’s were steel. It changed the coloring, differentiating the two.  
“I’ll ask again nicely. Where is Ryan” Jack enunciated each word with a squeeze of King Haywood’s jaw.  
He shoved King Haywood away and caused the chair to tip back somewhat. King Haywood’s face was full of panic for a second before the chair settled back down upright.  
“No idea” King Haywood’s voice was hard and unrelenting.  
Michael punched King Haywood and heard a resounding crack of King Haywood’s nose being broken.  
King Haywood cursed and struggled against his bonds as blood poured down his face and mixed with his face paint.  
“Let’s leaving him to think about it for a couple of days.” Geoff finally spoke up. With that said, each King filed out with Michael kicking King Haywood’s chair.

King Haywood didn’t know how long he was alone but it felt like months when it probably was only days.

They came in again and again multiple times, always asking the same question: “Where is Ryan?” But they go no answer from the Mad King. It finally got to the point they tried to beat it out of him.

Of course besides the initial meeting, the Kings left it to the guards to punish the Heartless King.

They used such devices as the heretics fork to force King Haywood to stay awake at all times. With the pointed ends pressing against his under chin and the other part on the hollow of his neck, there was no time for him to relax and let his head move even an inch. He suffered shallow scratches before the guards gave up after a couple of days. They moved on to better methods/equipment.

They used the pilliwinks to break and crush his fingers and toes. They threatened to next break his elbows and knees if he didn’t start talking. It never got that far, though, once his fingers and toes were broken, they used the rack to stretch out the answer.

To the bewilderment of the Kings and knights, King Haywood never broke. There were moments in extreme pain he would scream “I don’t know” but it was usually followed by “You will never find him”

Finally the Kings had enough. They gathered once again in King Haywood’s cell. But this time Jeremy joined them

The former king, now prisoner, was covered in blood and filth. His once intricate makeup of a skull was smeared all over his face and neck. The outline of his demon mask was crudely carved into his torso. His eyes were closed and his head lolled backwards. His toes and fingers were bloody messes of bone and cartilage, sticking in odd angles. Yet he was still tied to the now metal chair (which was charred on the underside).

Once the door closed, the former King rolled his head forward and opened his eyes. It was quite a difference from the first time. Where there was still defiance, there was also overwhelming pain and sorrow.

Haywood spit out blood off to the side and gave the Kings a big wide smile, showing his bloody teeth. “How may I help you gentlemen?”

Jack grabbed Michael’s shoulder before he could rush forward and hurt the tied up man.

For at that moment, that was all he was, a broken man. Tortured and beaten.

Geoff nodded off to the side and the knights came forward with a bucket of water and a rag. Haywood narrowed his eyes at the items but turned back to the kings. “Our patience is running thin, where is Ryan?” Geoff spoke in a hard tone.

Haywood threw back his head and laughed. Just as quickly though, the knights grabbed his head and kept his head going backwards and threw the rag over his face before pouring water onto the rag over his face before he could get a breath.

Haywood struggled intensely in the beginning. But as the cycle continued, letting him take an odd number of breaths before forced under the gushing water again, the struggles grew weaker.

The Kings left, leaving Jeremy and the knights. Jeremy finally dismissed the knights and stepped towards the coughing prisoner. “You know, I really thought maybe others thought of you wrong. That you weren’t heartless or a monster. But then you took Ryan.”

Haywood refused to lift his head as Jeremy continued, “Ryan was more than double the man you are.”

Haywood flinched at the sentence. He then heaved a deep breath and closed his eyes. Now was the time to make a decision. Now was the time to decide his fate.

“I can’t take away what I am.”

With that said, he flung his head backwards with enough force to make an audible crack against his skull.

Jeremy looked on at horror at the familiar face that finally showed through the skull makeup.

Years later, they would talk about King Haywood and his unknown kindness. The way he would sneak out and give out food/money to the poor peasants. How he would buy from the struggling merchants even when he didn’t require the food but rather gave it away as well.  
He was called all those terrible things because he treated the nobility as equals to the peasants. He didn’t allow for them to be able to bribe their way past anything. So the nobles complained and complained. And since the only way word got around was gossip from the nobles as they traveled and visited neighboring countries, all that was heard was the bad parts of King Haywood’s rule  
The 5 other Kings recognized their mistake but they could do nothing more to reverse it.  
Jeremy stood at the grave. He was holding a bouquet of roses in his hand, white roses to be exact. He calmly set them down on the grave and kneeled down in front of the grave.  
“I’m sorry for what I’ve done…Please forgive me” Jeremy whispered to the stone.  
“There you are Jeremy…let’s go home” Jeremy looked up into the clearest blue eyes he’s ever known as he took the man’s hand.

**Author's Note:**

> This was for the AH King Big Bang 2018!
> 
> I had a ton of fun doing this and I loved it so much. Go check out the art that is attached to this work (Note: It's absolutely stunning). I can't want to do something like this again!
> 
> http://kurogyen.tumblr.com/post/179093049836/a-companion-piece-to-the-fallen-by-creativeness5


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